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By Joseph PisaniASSOCIATED PRESS • Sunday June 16, 2013 9:50 AM

Enlarge ImageRequest to buy this photoDISPATCH FILE PHOTOMany styles of wedding bands are offered via the Internet, but even online, diamond choices should be guided by the traditonal four C’s: carat, color, clarity and cut.

NEW YORK — It’s wedding season. And the Internet can be a busy jewelry buyer’s best friend, if
you know what to look for.

Engagement rings and wedding bands from online jewelers can cost more than

20 percent less, experts say. That’s because you’re not paying the extra overhead costs of
traditional retailers. And online retailers, such as Blue Nile Inc. and James Allen, usually have
more styles to choose from.

If you plan to buy a wedding band or engagement ring online, here are some tips:

Make sure you can return it: Before choosing an online store, read its return policy thoroughly.
A diamond is hard to judge online, and you might not be happy with the ring. The retailer should
offer free shipping and a full refund. And it should allow you to send the ring back within 30 or
more days.

To limit returns, buy from a website that features high-definition photos. This will better
enable you to clearly see any imperfections in the stone, said Ira Weissman, founder of
diamond-shopping guide TruthAboutDiamonds.com. JamesAllen.com has high definition video for the
diamonds it sells, and Ritani.com has the same for some of its stones.

Best of both worlds: If you want to get a feel for a ring before you purchase it, two websites
offer that option. Ritani will send up to two rings of your choice to a local jeweler so you can
compare them. Ritani works with about 100 stores across the country. It’s free to have the rings
sent to a store, and there is no obligation to buy one. But the online jewelry store does take
credit- card information in case you do want to purchase one after seeing it, said Kevin Flaherty,
vice of president of marketing at Ritani.

Ocappi, a high-end online jeweler, will send to your home six replicas of the rings you are
considering buying free. The replicas are made with sterling silver and cubic zirconia, which looks
like a diamond. You can keep the rings for five days, and then ship them back free. (But you will
be charged for them if they’re not returned.) There’s no obligation to buy the real diamond rings
after sending the replicas back, said Shaya Tenenbaum, Ocappi’s chief marketing officer.

Diamonds need to be certified: If you’re buying a diamond ring, it should come with paperwork
from either the Gemological Institute of America or the American Gem Society. The two organizations
analyze diamonds for what is known as the four C’s: carat, color, clarity and cut. The
certification will grade the stone, and the criteria will help determine its value.

Weissman said that other organizations certify diamonds too, but they are not as respected in
the industry. Other organizations might grade a diamond too high and you could end up paying more
than its real worth, Weissman said.

Saving money on a diamond: There are two tricks to saving money when buying a diamond: Buy the
stone a little smaller but don’t skimp on the cut.

Of the four C’s, the most important is the cut, said Russell Shor, a senior industry analyst at
the Gemological Institute of America. The cut determines how well the stone will sparkle when light
hits it. Even if the color or clarity is of an average grade, the diamond can still look great if
it has an excellent cut, says Shor.

Another tip: Go a fraction of a carat smaller. A 1-carat diamond that costs $6,000 can be about
25 percent cheaper if you buy one that’s 0.9 carat, said Jim Schultz, president of James Allen. It
will be hard to tell any difference. “A fraction of a carat is the width of a few sheets of paper,”
says Schultz.